24th August Daffodil Day

This Friday, 24th August we celebrate Daffodil Day, a day that is held each year in Australia to heighten people's awareness of the number of people in our communities that are affected by cancer. It is also the end of Children's Book Week and this year one of the books on the Early Childhood shortlist, That's Not a Daffodil! by Elizabeth Honey is ideal for talking to children about daffodils and why their golden blooms are seen as symbols of hope and sunshine.

This book proved to be somewhat of a sleeper. When I first read it, I thought 'quite nice' but not earth shattering. However the more I shared it with classes and he

ard the children, especially the preschoolers cackle with laughter, the more I realised that this story worked on a deeper level. It elicited much discussion about growing things. Most children thought everything grew from seeds so we had the chance to explore bulbs and I bought some daffodil bulbs that flowered. It was ideal also for lengthy discussions relating to literature in context as the Australian English curriculum calls it. The children picked up on Mr Yilmaz's name and the mention of Turkey, they discussed neighbours and backyard gardens and they related closely to Tom and his creative play. This book certainly deserved to be an honour book.

The students' interest also made me realise that while we had a number of books about gardening and growing things, the library did not have anything specific on bulbs or daffodils, so I have bought two new books to be used in conjunction with this picture book. They are:

* From Bulb to Daffodil by Ellen Weiss

* What are Bulbs and Roots? by Molly Aloian